"Pole Tax" Poll: Should Strip Clubs be Taxed to Fund Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault?

Image via

Is the "pole tax" right?

​Illinois state senator Toi Hutchinson (not pictured on the right) is introducing a bill that would require strip clubs serving alcohol to charge patrons a five-dollar tax at the door. The revenue would then go toward funding programs that assist women who've been sexually assaulted.

The implication: Strip clubs foster sexual assault.

"Those that visit strip clubs see women's bodies as being 'for sale,'" says Sean Black, communications coordinator for Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

"Then when they go out in public, that can lead to sexual harassment because it's hard to turn the thought process off once you're outside the club."
Strip club owners, however, heartily disagree. Michael Ocello, owner of several clubs, told KMOX on Monday:

I think people who have been sexually assaulted or battered, we should as a society do everything we can to help those people. I think this is an effort to try to say we're responsible for that. I don't believe there's any scientific data, not anecdotal but scientific data, that links the adult nightclub industry to increased levels of rape and battery.

We've got a call in to Senator Hutchinson to see what her response to that is.

In the meantime: What do you folks think?